Greyhounds

There were times in Saturday's game against Towson when No. 11 Loyola threatened to blow away its crosstown rival. Then there were the final five minutes, when the Greyhounds all but imploded. Greyhounds goalie Jake Hagelin (Boys' Latin) stopped a desperation one-hopper by Matt Lamon (St. Mary's) as time expired, however, and host Loyola held on for a 7-6 win that injected more than a little anxiety into the announced 2,412 at brand-new Ridley Athletic Complex. "You never take a win in Division I for granted.

Visiting Loyola trails, 15-10, in its series with Duke, which has won six of the last seven meetings. The teams have faced each other just once in the NCAA tournament with the Blue Devils cruising to a 12-7 victory in the first round of the 2008 postseason. The Greyhounds (11-4) have won seven of their past nine contests, but are trying to rebound from an 18-11 thumping by Ohio State in an Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament semifinal on May 2. With 126 career goals, senior attackman Mike Sawyer is seven goals away from tying Pat Lamon for the most in that department in school history.

Erik Etherly had 12 points and seven rebounds to lead visiting Loyola to a 51-41 men's basketball victory over Manhattan in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game Friday night at Draddy Gymnasium. Anthony Winbush added nine points and eight rebounds for the Greyhounds (15-6, 7-2 MAAC), who have won three in a row and six of seven. Emmy Andujar came off the bench to score 12 points and grab 16 rebounds for the Jaspers (5-14, 3-6), who have lost three in a row and nine of 11. Loyola slowly built a lead as both teams struggled to score early in the opening half.

Only five programs have repeated as national champion - most recently in 2009 when Syracuse collected back-to-back NCAA titles. Loyola may have been one of the last teams to earn an at-large berth in the upcoming NCAA tournament, but the team has a chance to join the Orange, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, North Carolina and Princeton. “Obviously, that's the ultimate goal,” senior midfielder Davis Butts said Thursday. “The thing is, we have to take it one game at a time with the opponent that is ahead of us and not think about too far down the line because at this point, it's one game or you go home.

The bottom of Gilman's lineup helped the Greyhounds reach the top of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference on Thursday. Gilman's No. 2 doubles team of Jay Barrett and Will Faison rallied to win a tiebreaker that let the Greyhounds tie host Mount St. Joseph in the conference's title match. The only match left was at No. 3 singles where Galen Rende of Gilman was finishing off his 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Tristan Boustany. That completed Gilman's come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Gaels in the A Conference championship.

Seven years ago, when Nichole Schiro had already wowed upperclassmen on her high school team by scoring goals at will, her soccer coach at Okemos (Mich.) High sat her down in his office. Rob Antcliff wanted to know what his young star wanted to accomplish in her career. Naturally, the modest freshman listed the basics — play well, help the team win, maybe try to play in college. Then she blurted out something that still sticks out to Antcliff. "Well, I like to break records," Schiro said.

The Loyola men's basketball team has played some great games as they've risen to the top of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference standings. Sunday's game at Reitz Arena will not be regarded as one of them. Down by just four at the half, the Greyhounds (19-6, 12-3) were out-rebounded, out-hustled and out-everything-elsed in a MAAC loss to Fairfield (15-10, 10-4) 68-51. Erik Etherly and Robert Olson lead the Greyhounds with 17 points apiece. Rakim Sanders led a very balanced Fairfield team with 13 points.

For Loyola, only two positive developments came out of its game against Manhattan last night.First, the Greyhounds won't have to face Manhattan in the quarterfinals of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament. And second, B.J. Pendleton scored the 1,000th point of his career.The Greyhounds were pounded by the defending champions of the MAAC, as Manhattan built a 14-point lead at the half and rolled to an 84-71 victory at Reitz Arena.Manhattan (16-9, 9-4) is most likely headed to the No. 2 seed for the MAAC tournament, next weekend in Albany, N.Y. Loyola (13-12, 5-8)

Spurred by Zach Thornton, sixth-ranked Loyola scored early and often as it rolled to a 21-5 victory at UMBC last night.Thornton, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior midfielder, scored three of the game's first four goals, firing bullets from in close. UMBC goalie Chris Brown had almost no chance against any of them.The Greyhounds (8-1) next play at home Tuesday against No. 4 Syracuse. The next game for UMBC (4-6) is at home against Towson State next Saturday.Thornton opened the night's scoring unassisted when he dodged past two defenders and fired one over Brown's right shoulder 2:49 into the game.

Baltimore native and Loyola High alumnus David Metzbower, a former Princeton associate head coach, has joined the Loyola men's lacrosse staff as an assistant, coach Charley Toomey announced Thursday. Metzbower will start with the defending national champion Greyhounds beginning Monday. He spent 20 years as an assistant coach, offensive coordinator and goalie coach at Princeton, the final seven as the Tigers' associate head coach. Most recently he was head coach for two years at Malvern (Pa.)

Loyola's Chris Layne has been diagnosed with what is being described as a “testicular mass,” but the senior midfielder still plans to play in the team's NCAA tournament first-round contest at seventh-seeded Duke this Sunday. The school made the announcement via a statement from Layne's family, who revealed that the mass was discovered earlier in the week. It is unclear if the mass is cancerous, but it apparently will not prohibit him from trying to help the Greyhounds (11-4) retain the national championship they won last spring.

Loyola's attack was clicking far more efficiently than in the regular season. Sophomore goalie Acie Newton was steady throughout and often sensational in the net. And in Friday's Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference lacrosse quarterfinal game, the No. 7 Dons were having the better of the play against No. 3 Gilman in all the other important areas of the field. When it was all added up, the Dons had an impressive 17-13 upset win over the Greyhounds to advance to Tuesday's semifinals at Johnny Unitas Stadium.

When the NCAA selection committee convenes this weekend to review the resumes of teams jockeying for one of the 16 spots in the NCAA tournament, the members will have at their disposal an assortment of numbers to gauge a school's bid strength - including RPI, strength of schedule and quality wins. Loyola coach Charley Toomey thinks the committee should also consider another factor: losses. Only one team among the top 10 in RPI has fewer than three losses (No. 4 Cornell is 12-2)

After last Saturday's 8-4 victory over No. 13 Johns Hopkins, No. 5 Loyola was thought to be a lock for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament if the reigning national champion did not repeat as Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament champions this week. Few expected the Greyhounds to fall to No. 8 Ohio State in a conference tournament semifinal, but that is what happened as the Buckeyes pulled off an 18-11 upset at Hobart in Geneva, N.Y., Thursday night. Now Loyola's tournament profile is in question, and it is an unsettling situation for the players and coach Charley Toomey as they await to hear their fate Sunday night when the NCAA selection committee unveils the 16-team field.

While junior Joe Fletcher has emerged as Loyola's shutdown defenseman and seniors Scott Ratliff and Josh Hawkins have headlined one of the more prolific Rope units in Division I, Reid Acton has stood in the background. But that's not how coach Charley Toomey feels about the senior defenseman. Acton, a three-year starter, is a security blanket for the No. 5 Greyhounds (11-3), who will meet No. 8 Ohio State (10-3) in a semifinal of the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament at Hobart on Thursday night.

Winning last year's Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament was a breakthrough for Loyola. This spring, the program was just an overtime loss to Denver on April 13 away from completing an undefeated season in the league and earning the top seed in this week's conference tournament. The No. 5 Greyhounds (11-3) will face No. 8 Ohio State (10-3) in one semifinal Thursday night at Hobart in Geneva, N.Y. No. 3 Denver (11-3) and No. 19 Fairfield (8-6) will tangle in the other semifinal.

Loyola led favored St. Joseph's of Philadelphia for much of the game last night at Reitz Arena, but the visiting Hawks asserted their superiority in the last seven minutes and won going away, 90-70.The Greyhounds, paced by Tracy Bergan's 13 points, led at halftime 36-35. Loyola's swarming, pressing defense was giving St. Joseph's a fit.But St. Joseph's tied the game at 52 on a field goal by Mark Bass with 14:10 left in the game.Then the Hawks took the lead for good at 54-52 on a layup by Demetrius Poles.

No. 7 Loyola took great joy in snapping a 13-game losing skid to No. 13 Johns Hopkins with Saturday's 8-4 victory. But even happier times could just be down the road. Saturday's win may have further strengthened the reigning national champion's pursuit of an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament regardless of what occurs in the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament being held at Hobart in Geneva, N.Y. later this week. According to Laxpower.com which compiles its own Rating Percentage Index (RPI)

Mike Sawyer never went anywhere. The Loyola senior attackman may have blended into the background because of the development of junior attackman Justin Ward (team-leading 28 assists and 54 points) and the play of the team's defense, but aside from sitting out two games due to an undisclosed injury, he toiled away. But Sawyer, a 2012 Tewaaraton Award finalist and a nominee again this year, picked an opportune to re-establish himself on the national scene. His three goals powered the No. 7 Greyhounds to an 8-4 victory over No. 13 Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field in Baltimore Saturday.